Waterfront Analysis and Design Comparative Report of Beijing, Suzhou and Yinchuan systematically summarizes the research and planning cases. Conventional concepts and strategies concerning urban planning implemented in Beijing, Suzhou and Yinchuan have long been established, and the construction of many areas in these cities have been widely finished. Under such circumstances, based on analyses of the three cities and several typical cases of waterfront planning, this book breaks through the established conceptual constraints and delves into the commonalities and differences among the cases through systematic scientific approaches. On top of conducting the intensive research into urban waterfronts planning at levels of both basic theory and methodology, this book also presents specific practices of urban waterfront planning and design customized to the urban water system, as well as the layout and space of waterfront areas. By displaying how research findings can be applied into urban design, this book is of unique significance on value transmission.@en

The ‘resource curse’, a term coined by Richard Auty in 1993, refers to the paradox that the abundance of natural resources tends to have adverse effects in a country’s economic, social and political well-being (Ross, 2015). This correlation has also led many to refer to this phenomenon as the ‘paradox of plenty’. When a country depends exclusively on the extraction of non-renewable resources it faces a wide range of risks that can be extremely difficult to manage, since they are created by powerful external factors. And Venezuela, a nation that has mainly depended on oil and mineral extraction since the 1920s, has not been the exception. The astronomical rise in the prices of various metals over the past two decades has put great pressures on resource-rich countries all over the world, especially in the global south. In recent years, and pushed by the drop of oil prices, the Venezuelan government decided to shift its attention from the oil fields of the country to the tropical forests of the Venezuelan Guayana, where large deposits of iron, bauxite, gold, diamonds, coltan, and many other rare minerals can be found.

But the ongoing economic crisis and the subsequent lack of opportunities throughout the country, have also promoted the escalation of illegal small-scale gold mining operations in this part of the Amazonia. Thousands of people, especially in neglected and peripheral areas, have found a way to survive the crisis by working in the gold mines. However, this dependency on resource extraction is having far-reaching consequences that will be felt by many generations to come, from an environmental, social and economic point of view. And from a larger perspective, the idea of maintaining a model based on the exploitation of non-renewable resources hinders the possibility of a sustainable future for the region. But is there a way out of the resource curse? What kind of
regional and local development should be promoted to overcome this dependency, and for whom? These are difficult questions that nevertheless must be addressed, especially in the Amazonian context. Therefore, this work seeks to explore the spatial dimension of this problem in the Venezuelan Guayana, to understand if the restructuring of the territory can create the conditions for the generation of alternative economies from the bottom-up and reduce the current dependence of the region on resource extraction.

Traditional urban design approaches have failed to address changing urban conditions such as the ecological crisis, extreme weather events, and urbanisation. There is a need to explore new approaches which are able to deal with the holistic nature of the landscape. The aim of this research is to develop an integrated urban regeneration strategy employing urban landscape infrastructures as armatures for sustainable development in the case of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
The research defines the different problems that the city is facing and identifies a theoretical framework to transform the urban landscape using different concepts in the field of landscape urbanism and in particular landscape as infrastructure. The objective is to develop an approach which integrates the social, economic, and ecological aspects of the landscape.
Through a comprehensive analysis of the landscape of Anuradhapura, the logic of the different systems is identified. Five landscape perspectives are used to structure the research into coherent parts. These different parts detail how the different landscape structures and elements interact in order to form a complex system. The learning is combined in order to form a whole using the concept of space of flows.

This project explores the potential of integrating the wisdom and principles of ancient water management methods in the contemporary urban context of Hangzhou. Due to its specific location in the Yangtze river plain, Hangzhou is dealing with water issues for centuries. To support daily life and protect themselves from flooding threats, the people living there have been maintaining a close and intelligent relationship with water. The interaction between nature and human activities has formulated unique water management infrastructure at different scales. However, the growth of population led to rapid urbanization and inappropriate land uses in the previous dense waterway network. With the trend of increased occurrence of flooding, modern engineering approach of water management is being challenged. Vernacular water-management examples in Hangzhou will be explored according to two different natural watersheds. Based on the understanding of these examples, this project intends to develop a set tool-kits, methods, and possible interventions by testing principles and lessons learned in different scales and dealing with different conditions between the natural environment and human activities.

Historically, the regional landscape of Lambayeque has mainly been natural, agricultural, rural and lastly, urban. However, economic development, demographic growth and urban expansion have overpowered the more natural domain creating non–dynamic flows within the system, compressing all functions at the city scale, specially in Chiclayo as the capital of the region. Furthermore, due to climate change, natural disasters are getting more acute leaving behind devastated productive land, infrastructure and small rural towns, affecting mostly vulnerable population. Given that almost half of the region is cover by un–built areas with mixed ecological value, this broader –currently disconnected– landscape holds great opportunity as a linking element with the urban tissue, putting forwards the idea for creating symbiotic relations through green and blue multifunctional infrastructure and, at the same time reinforcing the regional identity. From the aforementioned context, the urgency for an integrative planning comprising urban, rural and natural landscapes arise. Due to the importance of agriculture not just in the economic dimension, but in the regional idiosyncrasy, productive lots hold the capacity to be integrated into the proposed green and blue initiative re–drawing the inherent connection between wilderness and, man–made landscapes focusing in gathering spaces, which are mainly non–existent within city boundaries. Furthermore, the territorial understanding is comprised by three natures, the first one refers to wilderness landscapes, the second one to man–made landscapes and the third one to ‘highly designed’ landscapes, where the third nature is understood as a complex intertwining of ecological elements, communities, cultural services and flows through processes of space & time.

The thesis explores the social potential of space i.e. the social logic of space to enhance resilience of society. As social resilience is defined as the capacity of society to cope, adapt or transform societal relations towards external stress, space that is a ‘construction’ and a function of the structure of society hosts the ability in fostering societal robustness against external perturbations (Alan H. Kwok, 2016; Raffestein 2012; Hillier,1984).
World Global Risks report 2018 considers extreme weather events and natural hazards as a major disturbance towards risk perception (WEF, 2018). At present, Mumbai as well as other cities are at risk from natural and man-made hazards (floods, fires, ethnic violence etc.). Although, Mumbai did witness acts of benevolence by its people during the times of crisis such as the floods, the past and present situation of Mumbai’s spatial and social fragmentation underlines threats towards external stresses. Besides this, the geographical isolation of Mumbai, a man-made archipelago with a population of over 22 million (Review, 2018) makes the accessibility to resources that could maintain and foster resilience even more difficult. Hence, the reliance on social solidarity as a means towards fostering social resilience is a key to safeguarding the future of Mumbai and its people. Although, resilience is not a final state but a process, it is the system’s ability to maintain its integrity and to return to its original state, a state of equilibrium, normality, when it is confronted with a disruption or hazard” (Holling,1973).
Through the case of Dharavi - Mumbai, a historic, unplanned settlement located in the heart of Mumbai that faces challenges and highlights potentials in the formation and maintenance of social solidarity, the thesis aims at developing a strategic spatial framework towards fostering social resilience under the purview of the ‘social logic of space’. It explores the spatial capacity in time to enhance social solidarity against external stresses (man-made and natural).